'Walk The Walk' on Nebraska Medal Of Honor Highway passes through Chadron, Hay Springs

Nebraska veterans Daryl Harrison and Ken Hanel are walking the entire 435 miles of U-S Hwy 20 in the state to celebrate its designation as the Nebraska Medal of Honor Highway.

    The 66-year old Harrison and 72-year old Hanel began their walk at the Wyoming line yesterday morning at 5:00 and spent the night in Crawford as the first of their 11 scheduled nightly stops.

     They began Day 2 at 5:00 AM and passed through Chadron around 11:30, greeted by a flag line formed by the American Legion Riders motorcycle group. Harrison and Hanel will stay in Hay Springs tonight and in Gordon tomorrow.

     The pair is alternating 6-mile stretches before sharing the final mile each day, and each segment honors one of Nebraska’s 74 Medal of Honor recipients. Both of them wear a laminated biography of the honored recipient during that segment.

    Walk the Walk will end a week from Sat at Siouxland Freedom Park in South Sioux City for the dedication of a Korean War memorial.

     Both Harrison and Hanel are members of the American Legion and Legion National Commander Bill Oxford will be at the dedication, where Medal of Honor Highway supporters will present him with a flag that has been passed from state to state

     They are working to have each state crossed by Hwy 20, the longest highway in the United State, designate it as the Medal of Honor Highway for full national recognition

    Walk the Walk is also a fundraiser to help the Nebraska Medal of Honor Foundation, of which Harrison is the president, place 6 Medal of Honor Highway signs along its route in the state.

       The plan is for one sign at each end of the state, 2 at the crossroads of the American Legion Memorial Highway/Hwy 281 in O’Neil, and 2 at the crossroads of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway/Hwy 83 in Valentine.